Thursday, June 29, 2017

Racing The Sky by Layla Dorine - Blog Tour with Excerpt and Author Guest Post


Racing the Sky by Layla Dorine

When you race the sky, gravity always wins

Racing the Sky Blurb

Nicky dreamed of Cliffhangers, Suicide Cams and the Kiss of Death, wanting more than anything to make it to the professional motocross circuit and dazzle fans beneath the bright arena lights. His bike was his life, his world, especially after his boyfriend, Terry, dumped him for earning a sponsor when Terry couldn't. It's still devastating, being cheated on and cast aside by the only man he’s ever loved, but there’s little he can do about it now but go out there and win, if only to spite Terry.

Enter Gray, and a chance meeting at a roadside diner that leaves Nicky with something more to focus on than the Coffin and Lazy Boy and how impressive a backflip he can pull off at the end of the next event. As the sting of Terry’s betrayal begins to fade, Nicky finds himself drawn to the older man, returning to the diner, and Gray, in every free moment he can spare. It’s almost perfect, but nothing ever lasts, not in Nicky’s world and Terry isn’t quite done making him pay for his success.

In the aftermath, Gray is left helping Nicky pick up the pieces once again, only this time, nothing will ever be the same. Will Nicky be able to see beyond his dreams of twisting in the air and dangling from beneath his bike.... to learn that when you Race the Sky…gravity always wins? 


Book Trailer


Excerpt 
The guy chuckled again. “I know that story, my friend. About three years back I came home to find my stuff on the lawn and a foreclosure sign outside. Guess there was a second mortgage I didn’t know about. I tossed most of the crap in the dumpster, packed my clothes and music in my trunk, and lived in my car for a while, until the owner sold the restaurant I was working at and the new management brought in their own people and a menu I couldn’t even pronounce. They turned it into some snazzy upscale thing, and me, I just started driving. Saw a ‘help wanted’ sign in the window when I stopped for gas and I’ve been here ever since.”

“Hopefully not still living in the same old car?”

“Nope, I have a trailer out back,” the guy said. “So, what happened that you’ve got no place to go back to?”

“I guess it isn’t that bad,” Nicky relented. “I mean, I’ve got a place to live, and I’ve got a job, even if I did just quit my day job this morning.”

“Ah, so it’s a woman then?” the man fished.

Nicky shook his head. “Not a woman.”

“Not a woman, but someone, ’cause I’m sensing that if it isn’t home and it isn’t work then a relationship tanked somewhere.”

Nicky looked down. “Yeah.”

“How long were you and he together?”

“Since high school.”

The man studied Nicky for a moment, a small smile on his face. “First and only relationship, huh?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, time heals all things, kid. Was with my guy for six years before I came home to that foreclosure sign. It don’t get any easier the older you get. It still sucks when it all blows up in your face.”

“Just wish he wouldn’t rub my nose in it every time I turn around.”

“He can only rub your nose in it if you let him,” the guy pointed out.

“I guess.” Nicky’s cell phone went off. He flipped it open to see the call was from Vic. With a sigh, he answered it.

“Your boss has been leaving messages all afternoon. Wanna tell me why you quit your job?” Vic asked.

“Nope.”

“Christ, Nicky, what did Terry do?”

“Just drop it, Vic.”

“You know what, Nicky, fuck you. I’m trying to be your friend here, but you’re making it really fucking hard.”

“Just give me some space, Vic, please.”

“Fine, but if you end up drunk and bloody instead of coming home and dealing with shit here, I’m going to be pissed.”

“I hear ya.”

“Do you?”

“Yeah, I do. Look, I’m up at a little diner. I’m not drunk. I’m not gonna drink. So just give me space; okay.”

“Be safe.”

Nicky slid his hand through his hair. “I will,” he said before hanging up.

Looking at the big man, who was watching him from the far end of the counter, Nicky gave a tense smile. “Could I, umm, have another slice of pie? Apple this time, please.”

The man laughed. “How about ice cream with that?”

“Sure. Maybe I’ll die of a sugar overdose.”

They were alone in the diner, save for the guy on the grill in the back.

“You know,” the man began, “there are some fun ways to burn off sugar, if you’re interested. I get off in an hour.”

Nicky shivered, partly in fear and partly in anticipation. He could say yes, easy. Hell, it wasn’t as if Terry had even waited for them to break up before he’d moved on to someone else. Still, Nicky had never been with anyone but Terry, and this was a stranger, even if he was friendly as hell.

“Think about it,” the guy said before he headed to the back.




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Hi and thank you for having me on your blog today. I’m so excited to have released Racing the Sky and finally be able to share it with readers. One of the things I love is being able to weave real life events into my work, as well as scenes and moments that I’ve lived and cherished. The scene with Nicky and Gray’s picnic beneath the meteor shower is one such moment, in fact, it wasn’t part of the original draft because it hadn’t happened to me yet. I added t later, when I sat back reflecting on how beautiful the sky had looked with all those streaks.

Though I didn’t get to see it from the west coast mountains as they did, it was still just as beautiful from the flat prairie lands of north central Iowa. Those are the nights when we fill the bed of the pickup with blankets and pillows and drive out on the dirt roads where there are no wires to obscure the view. Some hot cocoa in a thermos in fall and winter, ice tea in spring and summer, and a picnic basket and we’re all set to view just about anything.

Its moments like those that remind me of why I don’t miss cities and why I love living somewhere with more cows than people. You miss those kinds of experiences when you’re hemmed in by buildings on each side. I know I certainly did, and I never found the peacefulness in a city that I find by the edge of a bubbling creek, listening to the water and the crickets and a bullfrog serenade.

For that moment in the story, they might as well have been a hundred miles away from civilization, for how isolated they were, able to enjoy themselves without worry over interruptions or random passersby. It’s a moment where I felt they deepened their connection, even if they didn’t fully realize it at that point.  It was also the moment when, as I added that scene, I knew that Gray and Nicky would be more than just a random hookup. I hope readers will enjoy the moment as much as I enjoyed sharing it on the page. 


About the Author



LAYLA DORINE lives among the sprawling prairies of Midwestern America, in a house with more cats than people. She loves hiking, fishing, swimming, martial arts, camping out, photography, cooking, and dabbling with several artistic mediums. In addition, she loves to travel and visit museums, historic, and haunted places.

Layla got hooked on writing as a child, starting with poetry and then branching out, and she hasn’t stopped writing since. Hard times, troubled times, the lives of her characters are never easy, but then what life is? The story is in the struggle, the journey, the triumphs and the falls. She writes about artists, musicians, loners, drifters, dreamers, hippies, bikers, truckers, hunters and all the other folks that she’s met and fallen in love with over the years. Sometimes she writes urban romance and sometimes its aliens crash landing near a roadside bar. When she isn’t writing, or wandering somewhere outdoors, she can often be found curled up with a good book and a kitty on her lap.

Layla Dorine can be found at:








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